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Hex Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Pub: Hodder & Stoughton

Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudson Valley town haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a seventeenth-century woman whose eyes and mouth are sewn shut. Blind and silenced, she walks the streets and enters homes at will. She stands next to children’s beds for nights on end. So accustomed to her have the townsfolk become that they often forget she’s there. Or what a threat she poses. Because if the stitches are ever cut open, the story goes, the whole town will die.

The curse must not be allowed to spread. The elders of Black Spring have used high-tech surveillance to quarantine the town. Frustrated with being kept in lockdown, the town’s teenagers decide to break the strict regulations and go viral with the haunting. But, in so doing, they send the town spiraling into a dark nightmare.

A three hundred year old witch haunts Black Spring. She has left a curse on the people and once you are in you cannot get out.

I love a bit of horror but the modern setting of this book left me a bit cold. I would have loved it more if it had been set in the late 18th Century. Saying that this is a tale I enjoyed. It is an oddity that is quite a story.

Trying to keep Katherine a secret from the ‘outsiders’ proves to be quite a task for the residents, those who leave commit suicide.

This read covers a few uncomfortable topics and for some readers could be upsetting. However it is a creepy tale, and is one that gave me a nightmare.

Although it will not appeal to every reader, I can honestly say I loved it and is one I am happy to recommend